Things are going from bad to worse for the Chicago Cubs as they crashed to their second consecutive defeat with a gut-wrenching 5-4 loss to the Boston Red Sox on Friday night. Jake Arrieta struggled mightily in that ballgame as he logged his shortest start since August 28, 2014. With the Cubs in a bit of a funk right now, the pressure is on John Lackey to deliver a great start for Chicago today.
The right-hander will be making his first start in Boston since being traded to St. Louis in July 2014. Lackey, who spent three-plus seasons with Boston and won a World Series title with the team in 2013, is 31-23 with a 4.45 ERA over 67 career starts at Fenway Park. Saturday’s contest will be the first time Lackey faces the Red Sox as an opponent since September 15, 2008, when he gave up two earned runs in a 4-1 defeat at Fenway.
After scoring just 13 runs in seven games, including three shutouts, the Red Sox finally woke up from their offensive slumber on Friday as they tagged Jake Arrieta with five runs in the first inning. That’s the first time in Arrieta’s career that he has allowed four first-inning earned runs in consecutive outings. Andrew Benintendi sparked that offensive explosion, hitting a solo homer in that opening inning. He’s batting .325 this season with two homers and 12 RBIs. It wasn’t just Benintendi who contributed as every Boston starter nabbed at least one hit.
There’s something about National League opponents that brings the best out of Boston. With their victory on Friday, the Red Sox have now won each of their last nine interleague games at Fenway Park. They will look to stretch that impressive run when they host the Cubs in the second game of their three-game set today.
Starting for the Red Sox in this mouth-watering clash is Steven Wright. The knuckleballer will be facing the Cubs for the first time in his career as he looks to bounce back from a defeat at Baltimore last Saturday. Wright was a mess in that ballgame as he allowed four runs on nine hits in just 3.2 innings of action. He will look to turn things around against a Cubs side that is 3-1 in its last four games at Fenway Park. Wright is 3-0 with a 2.79 ERA in five career interleague appearances (four starts).
